Shoe reshaping device



Jan. 21, 1936. M, Kh DUN SHOE RESHAPING DEVICE Filedot. 5, 1954 INVENTOR.

Q/'f/*Z ATTORNEY.

Y BA Patented Jan. 21, 1936 UNITED STATES PATEN'E` OFFICE 6 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements Lin apparatus for re-shaping shoes to conform to the foot of the wearer and has for one of its objects to provide an improved device of simple and practical construction constituting an economical means of treating various portions of the upper of a shoe to alter the shape of such portions so that wrinkles and gaps between the shoe and the foot will be eliminated when thev shoe is being worn.

Another object is to introduce different portions of the shoe upper between heated elements to shrink or smooth out said portions, and to removably mount said members for rotative movement upon mandrels one of which is secured in a support while the other is movable therein and has a yielding pressure exerted thereon in the direction of the other mandrels.

The above and other objects will appear more clearly from the following detailed description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing which illustrates preferred embodiments of the inventive idea.

In the drawing:

Figure l is a vertical longitudinal section of the device illustrating the manner of applying a shoe thereto.

Figure 2 is a section on the line 2;-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an enlarged longitudinal section through the mandrels and associated elements.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary longitudinal section through one of the mandrels showing the manner of detachably mounting one of the heated members for rotative movement thereon, and

Figure 5 is a fragmentary longitudinal section illustrating a modified form of mandrels and heated members supported thereby.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figures 1 to 4 the device is shown as comprising a base 6 having a central opening in which is screw-threaded a hollow standard 1. Formed at the top of the base 6 about the standard 1 are a plurality of individual sockets 8 adapted to receive pairs of diierently shaped shoe-engaging members 9 which are stored in said sockets when the members are not actually being `used upon the mandrels of the device.

The upper end of the standard 'I is screwthreaded so as to receive thereon a support I enclosed within a casing II. A pair of mandrels I2 and I3 are carried by said vsupport and extend laterally therefrom through the casing II in normal juxtaposition relative to each other. The mandrel I2 has its inner end reduced and extended through an opening I4 'in the support and is provided upon its inner end with a nut I adaptedto retain the mandrel I2 within said opening and prevent longitudinal movement thereof. A set screw I6 may. also be utilized to xedly secure said mandrel I2 in position. The mandrel i3 is likewise provided upon itsinner end with a nut Il to prevent longitudinal movement of said mandrel but the latter, contrary to the mandrel I2, is vertically movable in said support and toward and away from the mandrel I2 by providing the support with an enlarged opening I8. In order that the two mandrels may be made to cooperate when a portion of the upper of a shoe is introduced between the shoe-engaging members carried by said mandrels, it is desirable that a yielding pressure be exerted upon the movable mandrel I3 which will maintain said mandrels in cooperative relation and yet permit of a relative movement between the same to allow for the introduction of the upper of the shoe between the heated shoe-engaging elements As shown herein, this yielding pressure is accompli/shed by means of a coil spring I9 one end of which bears against the reduced inner end of the mandrel I3 while the other end is engaged by an adjusting screw 26 threaded inthe upper end of the support IB and projecting through the casing I I so that the screw may be turned to regulate the pressure. With the spring I9 bearing against the inner end of the mandrel I3, it will be obvious that said mandrel will be forced toward the mandrel I2 and yet have a substantial pivotal movement with respect thereto so`that the outer end of the mandrel may be forced upwardly to permit of the introduction of the shoe upper between the engaging members carried on said mandrels.

In order to heat the mandrels and also the shoe-engaging members carried upon their outer ends, each of said mandrels has a heating element 2I introduced into the outer end thereof and secured in position by a set screw 22. Each heating element has an electrical conductor 23 connected thereto and these conductors are led inwardly through the mandrels and from thence downwardly through the standard II and base 6 to a suitable source of current supply, there being a switch 24 on the base 6 to which said conductors are connected for the purpose of controlling the iiow of current to the heaters.

The outer end of each mandrel which contains the heater 2| is reduced for receiving one of the shoe-engaging members thereon and said member is detachably supported on said mandrel by III the provision of a spring catch 25 (see Figure 4) secured at one end upon the intermediate portion of the mandrel and having its free headed end engageable in an annular groove 26 formed in the inner end of the member 9. The catch 25 will thus detachably retain the member 9 in position on the mandrel and the annular groove 26 will permit of a rotative movement of said member on its mandrel. The outer ends or heads of the members 9 have their contacting surfaces made in various shapes to permit of treatment of different portions of the upper of a shoe which are adapted to be placed in position and moved back and forth between said heads when shrinking said portions or smoothing out the Wrinkles therein, said movements of the shoe being facilitated by the fact that the members 9 are rotatable on the mandrels. Thus, in practice, when it is desired to treat a particular portion of the upper of a shoe to either shrink or smooth out wrinkles in said portion, the latter is rst dampened and after selecting a pair of members 9 the heads of which will best conform to the area being treated, said members are mounted on the mandrels and the current turned on for the heaters 2l. When the members 9 are sufficiently heated, the upper of the shoe is introduced between the heads of said members and the shoe is then manipulated until the desired eiect is obtained.

In Figure 5, a slightly different construction of mandrels and shoe-engaging members is shown. In this instance the mandrels 2 and 28 both have heaters 29 disposed therein and the outer end of each mandrel is reduced as indicated at 3!) and provided with a screw-threaded socket 3l. Co operating members 32, shown as of substantially conical construction in the present embodiment, are rotatably mounted upon the reduced portions 3B of the mandrels and are held in position thereon bythe pins 33 which extend through the members 32 and have their inner ends engaged with the screw threads o the sockets 3i. In the same manner as previously described, a portion of a shoe upper may be introduced between they surfaces of the members 32 and be treated thereby.

What is claimed is:

l. In a device for treating shoes, a support, a

mandrel fixed in said support, a second mandrel mounted therein for movement relative to the rst mandrel, pressure means bearing against said second mandrel in the direction of the rst mandrel, shoe-engaging members rotatably mounted upon said mandrels, and means within said mandrels for heating members.

2. In a device for treating shoes, a support, a mandrel fixed in said support, a second mandrel mounted therein for movement relative to the first mandrel, pressure means bearing against said second mandrel in the direction of the first mandrel, shoe-engaging members rotatably mounted upon said mandrels, means on said mandrels for detachably retaining said members thereon, and means to heat said members.

3. In a device for treating shoes, a base, a standard extending therefrom, a support at the upper end of said standard, a mandrel xed in said support and extending laterally therefrom, a second mandrel movable in said support, means engaging said second mandrel to yieldably maintain the same in juxtaposition to the rst mandrel, shoe-engaging members rotatable on said mandrels, spring catches on said mandrels and engaging said members to detachably retain the same on said mandrels, and means to heat said members.

4. In a device for treating shoes, a pair of mandrels, means to s upport the same in cooperative relation, shoe-engaging members mounted upon said mandrels, and spring means carried by the mandrels and engaging said members to releasably retain the latter on the mandrels.

5. In a device for treating shoes, a pair of mandrels, means to support the same in cooperative relation, shoe-engaging members mounted on said mandrels and each having an annular groove therein, and a spring catch on each mandrel engaging in the groove of the associated shoe-engaging member to releasably retain the same in position on its mandrel.

6. In a device for treating shoes, mandrel members, shoe-engaging members mounted thereon, and spring means on certain of said members and engaging the others to releasably retain said shoe engaging members on the mandrel members.

MICHAEL K. DUN. 

